to think children under 10. should not have tablets?

[Hattie11]

Am I missing something here?

It seems everyone I know are buying tablets for their children asvyoung as 4!

To me that is giving children far easier access to the internet, chatrooms, and ghastly things that can come up during an innocent Google search.
I'm all for children learning to use technology in a supervised situation, but do they really need something so portable that they could easily be flicking through inappropriate content, without being noticed.

I'm not suggesting this deliberately done, but I know my own dd has found shocked by accidental finds on Google. Hence me tightening the supervision when she uses our home pc now.

Pleas persuade me otherwise......

I dont really understand tablets, is it same as an ipad but cheaper? i think ds whos nearly 7 could benefit from one for learning apps etc what kind of thing would i be looking for?

DDs will just be scooting along the pavement from home to school, scattering toddlers, old ladies and kittens into oncoming traffic, so that's ok.

No there not catinthehairnet. They use the ipad to go on twitter. Twitter is an app itself on the ipad! I pointing out that their mum has no idea about what can be accessed on an ipad at all, and isn't really aware of the dangers of it.

5yo DD here and she'll be getting one for Christmas. I can't stand the multiple Cbeebies windows on my laptop all the time. Plus she's also got a Furby and as I understand it, you can link them together to feed it.

I will be very glad to get rid of Ant Smasher off my phone on Christmas day.

YABU

Yy to getting ant smasher off my phone!

Haaaa! I thought you were talking about medicine.

I've got both of mine Leapfrog LeapPads for xmas and thats as much as they will get in terms of a tablet.

If I can't afford one for me, I'll be buggered if I'm going to buy one for them.

Dd1 5 will get my iPad if I can wheedle myself an iPad mini. Then I can feck all her silly episodes of Charlie and Lola and silly Peppa Pig games off mine. That alone is worth the price tag. And there might be an outside chance of the bloody thing being charged when I want to use it!

Aware I'm perceived as a Luddite, but the whole thing depresses me. When parents start boasting stealthily or otherwise how clever their children are on their iPads etc etc I just feel probably irrationally sad.

My soon to be 9yo wants a kindle fire for her birthday. I am struggling to come with reasons as to why she can't have one. They encourage reading, there are lots of free classics for her get through, plus the kindle library.

Of course she wants Apps too. Angry Birds, Talking Tom, Maths Wizard, Easy Times Tables, My Virtual Pet, Spelling Made Easy, YouTube. All of the apps she uses on my phone, again, I see no reason whys she should not have access to these. We have parental locks on the PC and my phone I am fairly sure we could set one up on a Kindle, although generally we don't use them, we rely on trust and so far dd1 has not broken this trust. There are some songs she likes that I find a bit , bit wrt films she sticks the 12 cert and under rule on her own. She knows her privileges would be removed if she didn't.

Dd2(5) has just gotten into Moshi Monsters and wants a tablet or laptop to play that on for Christmas. She mainly likes sending messages and receiving messages from her cousins and she likes the mini games. Her reading and spelling are improving because of this. I expect she will also want apps like the ones she uses on my phone such as the phonics one she loves or the one that teaches you how to do addition and division, or read along one and of course Talking Tom, but we're all allowed to have fun at some point, no?

Dd2 doesn't know how to work YouTube/LoveFilm/Google so I am fairly confident she won't be exposed to anything she shouldn't be.

But technology and tradition aren't mutually exclusive, they can coexist!

Jollster what's the difference between learning maths using a worksheet and learning maths using an App, other than the child sees the latter as a game as opposed to homework?

Would you be depressed if someone told you their child completes maths problems every day?

We've bought tablets for our 5 and 9 year old for Christmas. We have preloaded the 5 year olds with all the apps, games and music he likes so he won't be going on the Internet unless authorised by us. Our 9 year old will have access to certain parts but controlled by parental controls.
I don't see the problem, plus it keeps them away from our phones.

Allonsy - a tablet is just a kind of device, iPad is one make but not the most expensive. You can get some very cheap though, and some sort of toy ones aimed at children.

I think it's something to be thoroughly ashamed of when parents are reasonably intelligent and advantaged yet don't understand important aspects of technology. Especially when they are only in their 30s - less than 40 and computers have been around all your life. Catch yerself on.

Dd is 8 and has one.

No different from using my laptop. Full parental controls and its only every used downstairs where me and dh can see what she is doing. She loves it and that's makes you unreasonable.

They use the ipad to go on twitter. Twitter is an app itself on the ipad!

Still 2 different things. The twitter app is not downloaded on to dds tablet.

You can have a tablet and not have twitter. Maybe their mum should be considering whether twitter is appropriate, but that doesn't make the tablet itself is.

Dd1 did a whole topic on Moshi Monsters at school this year (yr5) she thought it was the best thing ever. Of course us parents knew this was just a sneaky way of teaching about the internet and internet safety, plus they incorporated it into other subjects because the kids were all so into it. For English they created their own Moshi Newspaper.

You really can't ignore technology, no matter how much you would like to, it is essential for school these days. Restrict too severely and your child will get left behind at school.

YANBU Children should be outside playing not cooped up inside loooking at screens all day.

When parents start boasting stealthily or otherwise how clever their children are on their iPads etc etc I just feel probably irrationally sad.

Wonder is people once felt that way about abacuses (is the the right plural) :)

I just can't get my head round spending that much money on a toddler or young child tbh.

*YANBU Children should be outside playing not cooped up inside loooking at screens all day.]

Funnily enough, they can do both.

It's not boasting, it's a fact. If I child has access to one of these things from a young age then the chances are they'll soon learn their way round it.

My dd got an ipad2 for her 5th birthday.

She also has a bike and a scooter and swimming lessons.

Swings and roundabouts.

But Cozy outside is muddy and messy, personally I chain mine to the PC as soon as they come in from school right through til bedtime and all weekend.

We'll have none of this outside malarky in this house. Far too messy and as for arts and crafts and baking, no. Bits of material, glitter and buttons all over the place and children covered in flour, no thanks.

I am sure there are Apps for those sort of things anyway.

I just can't get my head round spending that much money on a toddler or young child tbh.

Some tablets are only £70 or so. Not above what a lot of people would normally spend and for some considerably less.